Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20140327

The president is telling our european allies it is time for them to step up to the plate and provide more defense dollars in order to secure the continent and deal with threats such as russia. You can join in on the conversation by giving us a phone call at we welcome our listeners on cspan radio. You can also send us a tweet or join in on the conversation at facebook. Com cspan, or send us an email to journal cspan. Org. Withresident is meeting pope francis at the vatican. We will have more on that coming up later this hour. This story inside the New York Times closed quote puts into perspective what the u. S. And nato are facing. Times put into perspective what the u. S. And nato are facing that is this morning from inside the New York Times. The Washington Post is out with a new ap poll. The nation come about 59 of americans disapprove of the president s handling of the nation. Disapprove of the situation in ukraine of the way he handled the situation in ukraine. With a dutch newspaper to outline what he thinks needs to come about from this week. Heres a quote from the president. He said heres some more from the president yesterday in brussels. [video clip] if we defined our interests narrowly, if we applied a coldhearted calculus we may ourde to look the other way people are not integrated with ukraines. Of we face no direct threat from the invasion of crimea. Our own borders are not threatened by russias annexation. Casual difference would ignore the rest fences re it would allow the old way of doing things to regain a foothold in this young century. That message would be heard not asia, therope, but in americas, in africa, and the least. The obamald administration expect more from europe and nato . Many of you already weighing in on our facebook page. This from russell uss go to charlene joining from maryland on the line for democrats. I am a democrat and i disagree. I do not think it is casual indifference to not support ukraine. I think the European Union needs to fund it. Compensationotten for merrick and who have not recovered in this economy for americans who have not recovered in this economy. There is more for helping americans and less for helping the European Union. Host there is an new poll from the Gallup Organization Available Online. It shows Many Americans show russia as unfriendly. Have that8 perspective in the u. S. Front page of the Washington Post has this headline by the way, if you are interested the entire speech by the president is available on our website. The question we are asking, should the expect should the u. S. Expect more from europe . This is the front page of the york times next up at is this headline as the president renews his commitment to the nato alliance. Join in on the conversation, our phone lines this is from the wall street journal closed quote the wall street journal our next caller comes to us from southaven, michigan. Good morning, youre on the air. Everybody is down on obama. I say the president has a great idea. We do not need to send aid to from here to ukraine or russia. We cant beat russia anyway. Enqueue so much for the call. Host thank you for the call. Kevin drum has this analysis piece is analysis france has threatened to cancel the sale of two warships come of the g8 has effectively kicked russia off the club, ukraine has power to crimea, the russian economy is hardly robust in the first place and has already begun to tank. What has russia got in return . 10,000 square miles of territory that nationalistic pride aside mostly represents a political and economic drain on the state. That putin sure is a master geopolitical strategist. The is robert joining us on republican line from gaithersburg, maryland. Welcome to the conversation. Caller thinking for taking my call. I think europe should definitely step up. I think we are moving now towards more regional alliances. We know europe needs to do more nato. We have congress wanting to put in billions of dollars to crimea. What about order rico that wants to be one of the United States what about print oh what puerto rico that wants to be one of the United States . I want to share with you, the source of this is cnbc. The u. S. Spent more on defense in 2012 than did the countries with the next 10 highest Defense Budgets combined. China, russia, u. K. , japan, france, saudi arabia, germany, italy, and brazil. U. S. Spending 680 2 billion collectively. The other nations, 652 billion. The next calls from florida. Good morning. We have been holding their hands, wiping their nose since 1945. They need to step up. If they would spend more on their military we would have to spend our military spend our money over there protecting them. It is an absolute disgrace. If we dont wean them they are not going to do some that theyre not going to do nothing for themselves. Caller a story from political. Com from politico. Com. Time is on his side, obama they will succeed, even in russia. Even if it is ruled by flounder of International Law and a believer that that is from politico. Com. This is from our viewers saying it is the new world order. You can send in your tweet. Cspan twospan and you can watch the debate unfold as the house and senate are both expected to pass a bill that will provide said provide additional assistance to the ukraine, Loan Guarantees and additional funds. The imf was taken out of the Senate Version because of the debate in House Republicans saying they will not support that part, that reform in the imf legislation. It is a straight upanddown vote. Speaker boehner was asked about all of this. [video clip] can you articulate in a very concrete fashion what exactly to be withthe result Vladimir Putin . Do you expect him to pull back against crimea, not moving to the eastern part of ukraine . What is the concrete out from outcome . Ande have allies in Central Eastern europe. We have allies in western europe who are asking the question, where is the line . We are trying to do his work with the demonstration to stand up to putin. I will let the Administration Talk as to what their goals are. Our goals is to make sure the administration has the most effective tools available to deal with a very difficult situation. Does that mean crimea is gone . He won. Continue withg to the administration created caller and ministration. Host the house and senate are expected to post to vote on that aid package today. Chicago, democrats line. Should the u. S. Expect more from europe and nato moving ahead . Caller almost definitely. Thank you for taking my call. Stand we spend more money than the next 10 countries combined on military, that is up seen. Obscene. S up seen we need to back germany and western europe and Eastern Europe with resources and Technical Support and Everything Else. Is the same as Guantanamo Bay. We would not give up Guantanamo Bay even though it is in cuba. Host thank you for the call. And other editorial based on the president s through europe and his speech in brussels. This is from the Washington Post next calls from alexandria, virginia. If you could turn the volume down on your set we will hear you much better. Going to put on hold and we promise we will go back to you in a moment. Were going to jesse next in mesquite, michigan. Caller i would like to make a brief comment. Of all the continents we have , iraq, afghanistan, what korea, vietnam, business do we have telling russians what to do you go what to do . Obama spent most of his time trying to [indiscernible] when a mclemore, before i get off the air. Im going to make one more comment before i get off the air. What in the world was oreilly doing . It was a slap in the face. This point on our twitter page this editorial from the Financial Times should be expect more from europe and from nato as well . Heres more from the president in brussels. [video clip] that is the question we all what kind of europe . What kind of america . Will can of world will believe behind . What kind of world will we leave behind . Back ourlling to beliefs with courage and resolve , then hope will ultimately overcome fear and freedom will continue to triumph over terror. Because that is what forever stirs in the human heart. Host the president in brussels. Well go back to virginia. Go ahead. Youre on the air. I dont understand what you said. Host if you have a quick comment we are on the air. We were getting some feedback. Do you want to make a point . Caller what has europe to do with everything . Europe. Ave bombed how much have you stolen when you left europe . Today you make movies that show the different side. There is treasure in the mines. Where did it go to . It vanished. Why dont we ask what he did with all of it. Call. Thanks for the from the Washington Examiner, this perspective from senator. Ed cruz he believes russian president putin and russian leaders no longer respect the president because of his failure to lead. He tells the Washington Examiner he added that putins aggressive next aggressiveness was a direct result of americas position in the world. We go to our next caller. Certaini am not so about nato or europe. Even they are backpedaling now. First they get their oil three ukraine and from russia. The best way to deal with them would be for us to produce oil here. That is about the best way to do them and take them out of ukraine and Everything Else. Give them thatld billion dollars just to give them get them off their start. After that we should supply them and we shouldnt give the imf any money. We make our money back to us instead of giving it back to putin. That doesnt make any sense. We are having with putin is just that. A strong leader and everybody in the nations know it. That is the main problem we are having here. The silver tongue is going to bite off at some point. Ishink the mess we are in basically his fault. I voted for him but that was a mistake. I would not be voting for a third term there was one. A statement from the white house as the u. S. Welcomes this preliminary agreement between the ukraine and imf. An 18 billion Loan Guarantee was worked out between the imf and government of ukraine. The president is sitting down with pope francis this morning, his second meeting with the leader of the catholic church. In 2009 he met with Pope Benedict the 16th pope xvi. Dict david is on the call line next. To me ask you how much we will focus on health care, social issues, and abortion is likely to come up. Unique situation. Verse he had the meeting with the pope himself, which lasted about 53 minutes. Am told that was more of administering situation, they were talking about religious and philosophical ideas. After that the president went into the meeting with secretary of state with the vatican. That is where the difficult issues will be talking about, such as abortion, the contraceptive mandate, and the healthcare law. The more difficult talk is going on right now with the secretary of state. De son the audio we were able to hear, the president was genuinely pleased to sit down with the holy father. Guest he has been looking to this meeting for many many months. Because of the popes comments about treating the poor and income gap between the rich and the poor, the president has talked about it. He has warranted this meeting and he thinks the goodwill very much overshadow the bad. You have covered past president s meeting with the popes. Of we should point out that mark er sent out a tweet president obama tying his predecessors meeting with the pope now for a second time. What are the dynamics in these gatherings . Isst any time the president in italy or rome they go to visit the pope. It can be tricky politically. There are things they agree on and things that the president and pope disagrees on. They cut across traditional traditional ideology in the United States. Those were two issues bush agreed with him on. Pope john paul ii criticized president bush over the war in limited his support for stem cell research. There are issues on which they agree and disagree. The menu has flipped for president obama. And the vatican are in sync in terms of trying to reduce income equality. Their disagreements over abortion. Resident obama supports abortion rights. There are disagreements over contraception. Host a debate over labels, as well. His is a tweet from politico, quoting some bigname conservative catholics. Guest it is true. In the first year of his papacy pope francis talked about the. Our about the poor he believes the church should be more open. That doesnt mean he supports abortion rights and supports gay marriage. I think that is what the conservatives are talking about. Guest mark noller tracks all of these things. This is a tweet he gave a while ago guest thats right. Its worth noting that there was president s who never met with the pope and for many years in our country anticatholicism was a political platform. In the mid19th century we had the socalled american party. Part of their platform was to cut off immigration so there would be fewer catholics in the country. It took a while for president s and popes to be in a position where they could meet. That happened in 1919 with president wilson. He was the first president to travel to europe. Trips tod to take side meet other World Leaders and the pope was one of those leaders. Host, what is the white house hoping to achieve . Guest i think president obama would like some of that mojo. He sees this as an opportunity to talks about to talk about his issues in terms of reducing income inequality and helping the poor. Pope received a formal invitation to come to the u. S. Heor boehner we know Speaker Boehner guest i think theyre still working on the details. I fully expect pope francis and the United States to meet by the end of this year. Host we are going to continue with your calls and comments. The primary message that he has been delivering, it is time for europe to step up to the plate. Our phonelines are open. Obama enlists in europes aid. We are joined from tennessee. Caller what i wanted to say has to do with all the stuff that is going all over europe. A if i was if i was a leader of the world, right now the you cant tell me that putin doesnt see that. For the call. U from inside the washington times, obama quoted in a speech yesterday. This is not another cold war. Michael is joining us next. Good morning, welcome to the comp look into the conversation. Welcome to the conversation. Caller i dont believe europe should look at us as a world police figure. To stay strong we need to be at home. I dont know why our opinion is so valued over there. We need to be relied on as economically ingenuity is people. This is a host this is a headline it is above the fold from the pittsburgh postgazette. Danny is joining us next, good morning from alabama. Caller thank you for taking my call. I think europe should step up a little bit. I think nato should put more into it. I agree with the guy from tennessee who called in. Thinkingke Ted Cruz Obama is weak, i dont believe he is weak. Did he say this when bush and thats when bush invaded when bush invaded the . They threw it back in our face. Thank you. Host this point on our twitter page you can share your thoughts at cspwanwj. At somebody d to go we need to go back to somebody like henry kissinger, who is very in touch with different leaders. Variesg different cousin a friend countries, you have studying different countries, you have to go back to politics. Each country has a different trade. Putin put on the olympics. We did nothing but criticize him. Host from the hill closed the hillaper newspaper the speaker called the move, in other deadline made meaningless. That is from the hill. Congressman darrell issa, chairman of the House Oversight committee, and new head of the intestinal Revenue Service of the internal Revenue Service that story is front page of the washington times. Next calls from the democrat line. Good morning. Caller i am going to call to i am just calling to touch upon what john baer just said. He said he is doing everything he can to make obama as strong as possible and give him the tools that he needs. When it comes to helping people here, why isnt he like that when it comes to helping obama . Host thank you for the call. This is inside the Washington Post. More from the president yesterday as he spoke in brussels. [video clip] we sent no troops there. What we want is for the ukrainian people to make their own decisions. Just like other free people around the world. Understand as well this is not another cold war we are entering into. Unlike the soviet union, russia leads no bloc of nations, no global ideology. States and nato do not seek any conflict with russia. For more than 60 years we have come together in nato not to claim other lands but to keep nations free. What weve always will do is our solemn all location that solemn obligation, defending the integrity and sovereignty of our allies. Nato nations never standalone. Patrol theplanes skies over the baltics and we have reinforced our presence in poland. We are prepared to do more. Every member state of nato must step up and carry its share of the burden. Willst show the political in our defense. Just a portion of what was a 40 minute address in brussels. You can dial in at if you are watching this program outside the United States should the u. S. Expect more from europe and nato . We are getting your comments on our facebook page. This is from Richard Smith lee is joining us from windsor, new york. Welcome to our conversation. When they try to create a bill that you dont know who wrote it, most likely lobbyists, to push through natural gas has thewhen the ukraine abilities to develop it, is this relief ukraine or doesnt bypass environmental laws in the United States where the epa and dep are not providing the task the tests necessary to test the impact. I think this is disaster politics. You can declare a disaster and then push through laws to get environmental issues. Host this story outlines where o was and is in the future it also outlines the point that we lead the way when it comes to defense dollars around the world predict the next 10 countries combined dont even spend as much as the u. S. Does. In 2012 that totaled more than 650 billion. Mary is joining us from franklin, tennessee on the democrats line. I think the whole world needs to strengthen really strengthen nato. Is the only one with a brain in washington dc, except for a couple of pretty good guys. Ted cruz is a dangerous person. People ought to wake up to what is going on. Onhink our greatest danger this earth is all of the oligarchs. Where did putin get 1 billion . Up. Why isto step north korea even existing . People know what i am saying. Our earth is in big trouble. Natoe need to strengthen if we went in there alone all hell would break loose. Look at the people in the middle east. Up. S time for nato to step host thank you for the call. Congressman lee terry put it this lee terry posted this tweet. To another view inside the New York Times next is a call from iowa on the democrats line. Caller hello, thanks for answering my call. Think that nato should be more involved. We have a history of taking the lead in Many International situations. We have so much here in america that we need to focus on. I think having help from nato would be very beneficial for all. Dd has this also this time this story inside the Washington Post was quoted as the story continues to develop off the indian ocean ash coasshington post come the story continues to develop off the indian ocean this is from usa today. Joining us from castleton in new york, welcome to the program. Caller thank you for taking my call. The big this idea on the table. Let me put this idea on the table. We countered russia in the cold war was really built was we be built germany and japan and made them economically viable. I think we can target imf money to ukraine to build a seaport. Kraine borders the black sea we can give them a worldclass seaport, which would counteract whatever putin is doing. It would show the rest of the russians that dealing with europe and the west on an economic basis leads to a better life. Host that seaport is in crimea. Crimea is a peninsula. The rest of the ukraine borders on the black sea. We will see if our producer can pull it up. Have the imfu targets that money towards infrastructure, distribution routes, and have nato start to train and bring ukrainian officer corps into europe for training, that would also send a message to putin. I believe that is the only way short of what we do. Over go to world war iii this . No, you show them a better lifestyle. That will make the russian i was going to say more agitated against putin and his apparatus. Host front page of the Washington Post, scott wilson urging comments, first from j. D. Redding larry for michigan, you get the last word on the republican line. Im sorry, my husband cant speak. We were going to make a comment is respectingato every countrys integrity, their borders. Apparently not because they didnt do that when it came to close a bow. Prieta kosovo kosovo. These people were living in serbia and all of a sudden they wanted what they are calling freedom from the serbian people. Felix in North Carolina says Energy Issues will be our focus as we sit down with congressman lee terry from nebraska. Washington journal continues this thursday morning. Later, representative adam smith as he talks but the situation in europe and ukraine. You are watching and listening to washington journal on cspan television and cspan radio. We are back in a moment. The gentleman from iowa. Without objection. Mr. Speaker . Its time to take the mask off this institution. Its time to expose the check writing scandal i like to call rubber gate. Its time to bring some on her back to this institution. Nine months ago i stood on this floor with other freshmen and took the oath of office for the very first time in our career and it was probably one of the most important days of my entire life. I have never been so proud. A to go home to my district over this weekend and have people laughing at congress, laughing at congressmen, laughing at this institution rings dishonor upon all of us. I will give you a couple of examples. I was at a pizza hut with my son and daughter and my wife. And the gentleman from the booth behind me asked if i was going to pay for this with a check. That is not the kind of jokes we need. To expose them, announce a list of names. Of iowa is notn supposed to use exhibits. The chair should have called and another gentleman who will respect the rules of the house. Cspan, created by americas Cable Company 35 years ago and brought to you today as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Dear congress, our names are shelley ortiz, hannah hood, and nina handin. Throughout the years we have encountered a number of friends with illnesses. We have seen how a lack of support for treatment can result in devastating events, as well as Emotional Distress for those individuals and their families. Back on theok incident that took place where congressman giffords was shot and 16 other people died, the young man who did those shootings had been displaying symptoms of Mental Illness for at least two years before that time. Winners ofnce the this years cspans student camp competition on what is the most important Issue Congress should address this year yet to watch the top 20 videos starting tuesday and every weekday drop easternh at 6 50 a. M. On cspan. Watch all the documentaries online. Studentcam. Org. Washington journal continues. Congressman lee terry represents the Second District in nebraska, including omaha. Lets begin with the keystone xl pipeline, which would cut through part of your state. I want to share with the audience a clock that points out congressen 2015 days has been looking at this pipeline and still no action. It is very frustrating. When you talk about 2015 days to 2015nto perspective days, to put it into perspective world war ii was less. Lets talk about what we heard from the state department earlier this year. The Department Said what you go said what . Guest they finalized the environmental report and said what would hold us up is negligible. That is the fifth report that has concluded the environmental impacts are negligible. State kerryary of says he will remain neutral. Do you believe him . Guest he cant. His duty is to make a recommendation to the president. I dont see how that is mutual how that is neutral. The president can do just nothing. T let me share with you spendingillionaire money on climate issues. He said guest i think the environmental studies show they would be easier to clean up. Im not sure he is the most sincere guy. Frankly he is invested and his poor part and his portfolio in his portfolio. Host lets look at the map. This is the area where the oil would originate from, heading across the u. S. To the coastline south of houston texas. Why does this need to go through the u. S. . Why not just travel across canada to the ocean . Through half ang dozen refineries contracting with that oil. They can either buy it from venezuela, because the crude oil would off sweat offset the oil they purchase from venezuela. There are refineries buying that oil to process gasoline, diesel, and other products. Back to the go countdown on the house energy committee. How long will these businesses wait . Guest canada is already saying they are not going to wait. All thee arty obtained Eminent Domain property to do a pipeline to the west. Engineering ase pipeline that artie exists to the east. That already exists to the east. This crude oil is going to be used somewhere around the world, whether it is in the United States or just china and other places. Host that is the question from one of our viewers, why cant canada build its own pipeline . It can and they have refineries. These are u. S. Businesses that are contracting for their feedstock to be able to produce their product, which is gasolines and other oil products. Host what does the president have to focus on . Guest i would like him to focus on the Keystone Pipeline and the environmental studies. His decision is yes or no at some point in time. He can say yes or no today despite john kerry being neutral , and go forward with the project. Host environmentalists and the Democratic Party to not want to see this built so they are putting pressure on the white house and the president to veto it. Guest at is exactly why there has been no action, because of the environmental groups that are against this specific type of oil per unit a know this is going to be a game changer. The reality is i look at it as energy security. It weakens if we can offset all the oil we import from venezuela that makes us more secure. How long can these investors way to . What kind of a time frame . They are not giving us a timeframe. They are Going Forward with their east and west pipeline. At some point in time they are going to have those abilities and it just becomes a relevant. Host we go to jackie from the fridge and you. From virginia. Caller i would like to know why not build the pipeline on Government Property . Bypass the aquifer . Guest two good questions. Unfortunately the government does not own all the property in nebraska,h texas, theres just not enough Government Property to do it. The other side of that question was guest building it across canada. Guest they are already going to build across canada. They have the Eminent Domain across the lands. They can just go ahead and do it. That misses out on all the job creation and Economic Development we would have in the United States. Host this tweet from our viewers that is one of the greatest myths. It is very frustrating. This oil is going to United States refineries. We do know that gasoline will be used in the United States and that gives us a greater amount of security. That will be some product will be exported as it has been forever to europe. There will be other oil problem oil products that come out of this, such as lubricants, that will be exported. Celine is the most important issue to consumers. A u. S. Product gasoline is the most important issue to consumers. That is a u. S. Product will stay in the United States. Host are their assurances this pipeline is safe for the environment . Guest this goes back to the issue of safety, and the whole focus has been on pipeline safety. Engineering this pipeline to prevent leaks there is no way you can have a perfect pipeline just as you can never have a perfect whatever. The issue is if there was a lita,ne and there is a how will it be controlled and can it be cleaned up . Leak, howbe is a will it be controlled and can it be cleaned up . It is actually easier to clean up and the geological formation of the aquifer is not just this one massive lake that is flowing , it is a rocky formation that captures water. It is easier to clean up. Host harold in alabama, independent line. Terry were presented of , thepresentative terry refineries on the gulf coast, that is what canada does not have. All the oil they refine is not going to stay in the United States. It goes straight to other countries. There has never been a type lt the shape height built there has never been a type guest this is the most incredible engineering we have ever seen and surpasses the general standards and they have money as many as 59 extra concessions to make sure it is the most secure type line possibly built today. If you are just going to put the oil on a arch, it would not make any sense to then ship it to a refinery to just be shipped unproduced onto some tanker. And go through the panama canal ifwould be easier for canada that was the goal to just send it to their pipelines that are already constructing. Host let me ask you about mary trying toho is get more energy throughout europe and here is a tweet guest yes, i really do. Technology,he new we have a plethora of natural s. Of natural gas being produced today in the United States has flared off because we dont have a big enough market. Why dont we take that and use it for our geopolitical purposes of providing some security in europe so they dont have to be reliant on russia for their natural gas . The ukrainian issue is important to europe because the natural gas Pipeline System goes through the ukraine. If russia takes over ukraine, that puts more pressure on europe so it makes sense that weve got extra we can export that we use it to provide security to our friends. Host it is clearly a longterm issue and we cannot ship it overnight. How do we do that . Natural you take the yes and turn it into liquefied natural gas and put it on ships and you send it over and then they do you liquefy it and that technology exists and there are already ports built around that to do that. The issue for us is that we have to permit those to do that process and that takes time from the department of energy. Secondly, it takes a couple of years to build it. If we delay the permitting process, you cannot start the construction. Its the same argument with the pipeline. Host our guest is congressman lee terry from nebraska. The keystone xl pipeline. We will turn our attention to gm in a moment. We go now to muncie, indiana, good morning. Caller i want to say that i am constitutional a conservative as a person can be and i agree with obama on virtually nothing. Pipelineking in this has not brought my natural them a nickel. Unless you can guarantee that this big ugly pipeline crossing our country is going to reduce the price of fuel for americans, i dont see destroying our country as a good idea. All, withst of natural gas, we have the cheapest natural gas in the world. We are at about four dollars per billion cubic feet and the rest of the world is somewhere between 11 14 so we are already seeing the low prices. The low price of natural gas in the United States from fracking is leading to a job creating manufacturing expansion especially for those Industries Like steel, fertilizer, chemicals that rely on natural gas to feedstock that completely offsets the labor differentiation between us and china. We are moving the jobs back because of the cheaper natural gas. With our cold winter, we had a spike in cost but it was still half of the world price. Host we welcome our listers on cspan radio. This program is carried live on xm coasttocoast and streamed on the web at www. Cspan. Org. Is congressman lee terry from nebraska, a member of the house energy and Commerce Committee and your committee will have a lot of questions for gm officials about the ignition problem. Guest we are looking for what really happened. Its not just gm but we want to that is in charge of investigating any defects in automobiles leading to injuries and deaths. It looks to me that there is a bubbly failures on both parts. We have to really dive in and find out why these were allowed to be ignored by both gm and nts a. Host we have seen the apology from the gm ceo but one of the questions is the culture at gm from 20002009 before this issue became something that metastasized within the company. What do you think . Why would accompany let this happen . Guest that is the ultimate question. It seems pretty clear that there were at least well deaths related to the faulty ignition switch that would turn off the air, breaks, and steering. It would wiggle loose. Why they ignored it that will be the ultimate question to gm. Host nbc news yesterday had a story indicating that some of those who lost their lives, the families cannot file a lawsuit because of the restructuring of gm. Can you explain . Guest it is part of the manufactured bankruptcy that occurred that led to the bailout of gm. In a bankruptcy, your liabilities are wiped out which includes potential Product Liability lawsuits. There will be enough of a question left as to whether this particular liability for the could haveitches been discharged. There are still a legal question but the reality is that you can use bankruptcy to discharge your liabilities. They went for a bankruptcy so traditionally, it would be wiped out by the bankruptcy. Does gm have a, responsibility to help those families who lost loved ones in accidents . Guest thats a different question than the legal question but i think yes, if they had a defective product and is proved , i think theye have a responsibility absolutely. Gm officials and others will testify on the recall of that ignition device and the death of at least a dozen people as a result of those vehicles. Next tuesday and we will have it live here and on www. Cspan. Org. Morning, i guess i disagree with you. I was in canada went like megantic blew up when the train went through so i dont like taking oil by train. I dont like taking it by pipeline. Why cant we have geothermal move to get the heat of the earth without getting the oil out . The oil is a problem. Its dirty and dangerous, it destroys the environment. Why cant the canadians build their own refinery up there and maybe the oil would come to the states the way they are doing it now, they will type it out and sell it to china. Oilt first of all, the that comes through the Keystone Pipeline goes directly to u. S. Refineries where u. S. Workers refine it into a product that will be used in the United States. The other part of that is if we take the oil and refine it in canada and then move the end product, gasoline, to the United States to use here, frankly, that is a more volatile and dangerous product than the oil. Oil is safer than gasoline and safer than the lighter crude to transfer. Mentionednt that you is a call to action because the pipeline is safer than trains. Stillality is trains will carry some of the soil because because carry some of this oil but i think the pipeline is a safer way to transport the oil. This is from Robert Lambert on the gm issue i think there will be a lot of discussion about whether or not it would have. That could have been a motivating factor and thats one of the questions we will have to ask. From south carolina, good morning. Caller good morning, i want to ask a question. Is there any relationship between the Oil Companies wanting tofrack the east and west ukraine and the Keystone Pipeline . Using theer than modern technology to get to the second layer of oil and natural gas, you have the similarities there. They are using that technology in north dakota. Its a different type of technology that they use to get the oilsands that will be put into the United States and to the Keystone Pipeline to the United States. Host what impact has this had on u. S. Canada relations . Guest it is strained and they are frustrated and i have dealt with Parliament Members from canada and met with their trade reps and they are very frustrated. Host lets go to sean from lincoln, nebraska. Guest go huskers. Caller all right amresentative, i disappointed in your representation. Like youounding more are from transcanada then nebraska. Guest really . Hostcaller im concerned aboute safety of the sandhills but i am concerned about land owners being paid well for their land im also concerned pardon me i think that we should have paides if alaskans get every year for their energy through their pipeline, shouldnt nebraskans be paid every year for the energy going through their state . Host get back inside and get warm. Guest it comes to the aquifer issue. Its really important to us in the state of nebraska. I can guarantee you that if you read the 22,000 pages of the multiple environmental studies, those conclude that there is a negligible impact to the aquifer. Agreement putting permanent employees along the route to make sure we have an Immediate Response if there is any leak. I agree that there is no perfect pipeline but this one is as engineered better than any other pipeline in the history of the United States. I rely on the science. Host is there democratic support for this pipeline . Yes, we passed hr3 two deem the permits. We had a number of democrats that voted with us. They are on the senate side. There was a place ibo vote on the budget a year ago and we had 62 democrats over it. Host the caller from nebraska made reference to alaska. Our next caller is from anchorage. Republican line. Caller good morning, gentlemen. I want to thank you again for the washington journal. I think its an incredible resource for information. Congressman terry, to clear up that one callers observation downrude oil that travels the transalaska pipeline comes from underneath alaskan land. They saw to it that all the wealth below the surface belongs to all alaskans. Thats why we received a permanent dividend check every year. It is not much to do with the down theude that flows pipe. The one thing i wanted to make clear is that the pipeline is almost flawless. In terms of its job to carry crude oil 800 miles through some of the most hostile ground in the world. That is a serious testimony to the safety of it. The exxon valdez is another story. Unbelievable my thoughts the lost revenue hasarren buffetts train got to be significant enough to thee where its not just environmentalists lobby against this pipeline but is there any chance that Burlington Northern Railroad People are lobbying against this pipeline also . Guest i think thats a fair question and Warren Buffett is my constituents. The reality is that he came out publicly about two weeks ago and said he supports the Keystone Pipeline. There has been no sign of Burlington Northern lobbying against the pipeline. This is the headline from this mornings wall street urinal. Wall street journal. Guest i think we need to have that partnership. It is the responsibility of the United States and europe and the nato countries to step up. For only one entity to have to step up, europe, we need to be the leader. You cannot just be a leader and tell others to step up. Host what does that mean in terms of dollars . Should we provide the same type of assistance . Will the european allies provide more nato aid . Guest we need to work through exactly what it is we are expecting. I think the United States, because of our abilities, has to be part of this. We have to show the leadership with no more pink lines. We have to do what we say and say what we mean. We need to have europe and nato countries as her partner but how much money that will be and whether that is a level of equipment commitments yet to be determined. Host on the Affordable Care act, you are critics of obama. Yesterday, the speaker said referring to another extension to those who begun the process but have not completed the process. When its such an abysmal failure that the have to keep changing the rules this is just another one of those examples that the president without authorization makes changes and that is frustrating the heck out of congress. Host do you think the president is a strong leader . Guest no. There is no leadership at the beginning. With obamacare the easiest part of obamacare should have been the roll out of the website but yet that was an abysmal failure. Every part of this process had to be either weighed or delay. Ed. That does not show leadership to may. Host william, orlando florida. Caller i have been watching cspan since its inception in the late 1970s. Debate. Itdd to the i have not heard anyone bring up that we trust chinese inspected ships to come to this hemisphere , low the soil up, and take it through pristine canada on a daily basis. I have not heard that. Where areeve the environmentalists on this issue . Guest there is no doubt that canadiananada has the pipeline existing to the east and they are building to the west that those will be and that oil will go on chinese tankers. I am worried about whether or not we will have product coming into the United States to our refineries and those workers turn it into the gasoline that we need for the United States. Host our guest began his political career as a member of the Omaha City Council and is a graduate of the university of nebraska and earned his law degree from Creighton University and is now in his 16th year in the house of representatives and is from the second Congressional District of nebraska. Robert is on the phone from clayton, georgia, good morning. Caller good morning. Guest good morning. It has been floated around that they want to do a manhattan type project withlng and send it to the ukraine. How long will that take . If you get serious about that, why dont we [indiscernible] why do we send that to the ukraine until that is set up . Host that is referring to the natural gas, lng. Guest lng, they dont need a manhattan project. The technology to move natural gas already exists. We dont have to reinvent that. The issue is whether it will be allowed by issuing the permits to export it from the United States and how long the construction will take. The construction will take a couple of years. Then if it goes to the ukraine or wherever in europe, they have to have the ability d to thene liquefy and use it. Ofural gas is the cleanest the fossil fuels. This is a clean fuel. Alreadyaine and europe are using wind and solar may be as much as the United States. They need to have the diversity just like we need to but natural gas has to be part of it. It is plentiful and the infrastructure already exists and you just cannot shut down the infrastructure and say we are not going to use natural gas when that is was heating most of the homes. Host lets go back to the gm issue are you worried about the safety of gm vehicles today . Guest personally, i would drive a gm vehicle today but if its a cobalt or the saturn, i would be concerned. I would take it to someplace like the gm dealer and ask if this is one of the ignition switches that has a problem. Host your first question at the hearing next tuesday will be what . Guest two gm, it will be white was there evidence it will be why was there evidence and you did not inform ntsa and why didnt you follow up . Host congressman lee terry and that hearing is taking place next tuesday, republican from nebraska, thanks for being with us. Guest thank you. Host we will take a short rake when we come back, well get the perspective of congressman adam smith from washington and his views on the president s travels through europe and the latest in ukraine and russia. First, cspan radio with a look at some other news happening on this thursday morning. Good morning. The lawyer hired by new Jersey Republican governor Chris Christie to review the George Washington bridge traffic jam scandal has scheduled a News Conference in trenton today to release his findings. Ishe New York Times reporting the report clears governor christie of involvement in the scandal. Apparently, it was intended to punish the mayor who did not endorse governor christie for reelection. Investors today will be focused on the governments weekly jobless claims report that will be released later this morning. They will also get the revised fourthquarter gross thomistic product estimate. Gross domestic product estimate. Association of realtors will release februarys pending home sales index. Finally, new 2013 census information released today shows that areas west of the mississippi are gaining population as the Energy Business booms. It shows six of the 10 Fastest Growing metropolitan areas and eight of the 10 fastestgrowing counties in the country are located in or near the oil and gas rich fields of the great plains and the mountain west. Some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. One thing that did not become 1980sntil the late through someis files the applied for in the fbi that had taken place from 19401966 when the fbi, for that. Of time, had a formal legion in which from 19401966 e fbi, for that. Of time, had a formal relationship with the american members, 100 house and 100,000 members of the American Legion acted as informers for the fbi in their communities and regularly filed reports with the fbi. Americans had no idea that that kind of informing was taking place and they were untrained informants. 8, 1971, a group broke into an fbi office in pennsylvania and still every document in the building. The story sunday night at 8 00 on q a. Cspan, for 35 years bringing Public Affairs events from washington directly to you and putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences and offering complete gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House all as a Public Service of private industry. We are cspan, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or sublet provider. Like us on hd, facebook and follow us on twitter. Washington journal continues. Host congressman adam smith is the Ranking Member on the House Armed Services committee. Thanks for being with us again. Guest thank for having a. Host let me ask you about the situation in ukraine and the concern by nato officials that Russian Forces might move further into that country. Do you share that same fear . Guest i think we have to be concerned the way russia is a massing troops along the border. They have been a troops on the border with estonia which is of greater concern since estonia is a nato member. This is a very troubling situation. Russia has violated International Law and violated treaties they have signed. I think it is incumbent upon the rest of the world to condemn that and bring economic sanctions down on russia to make it clear that this is not acceptable behavior and we will do our best to hold them accountable. Host this is a quotation from the nato general is, its difficult because do we want to start World War Three over crimea or ukraine . We hopey not but what is that russia will come to its senses and not want to push this. Even absent military action between russia and the west, the economic war will kick off and it could have devastating impacts on the Global Economy. I think russia is really playing a very dangerous game in terms of their own stability. Host lets get your reaction to a new gallup poll that shows nearly 70 of americans view russia as either unfriendly or as an enemy. Guest its hard to argue with that. Legitimate interests in crimea, no question about it. They have had a longstanding contract with ukraine over the port in sevastopol and have a Large Russian population. If they had concerns about either of those things, there were plenty of options to work with the International Community to make sure those options were met. The weakness of Vladimir Putin domestically i agree with president obama on this he said this is a sign of russian weakness not russian strength his witness in his own country, looking for an external enemy to distract people from his own governance and Economic Issues and forced him to take a step that was wholly unnecessary. Russia without question right now is not a friendly nation to us or for that matter to the world and the International Order and i hope Vladimir Putin takes a step back and realize is that doing that is not in the best interest of russia. Host the congressman has been looking internally in the u. S. And europe in terms of what we have provided and we can provide in the future. This is the headline from the New York Times what is your reaction . Thet that misunderstands calculations of Vladimir Putin. It is true we have dramatically reduced air forces in europe but Vladimir Putin did not invade crimea because he thought the Defense Budget in the u. S. And europe was low enough he could get away with it. Keep in mind, he invaded two provinces in georgia back in 2008 in our Defense Budget was 700 billion and we had just invaded and opposed to governments in iraq and afghanistan. It was not a calculation as to how weak or strong we were. It was a calculation as to what the rest of the world would do in response. In other words, his thinking was the rest of the world will not go to war over crimea and fundamentally he is right. He took a poll of people in the u. S. , the overwhelming majority would say certainly not, we are not going to do that so he calculated that regardless of the size of the forces with not such we would respond. Its a miscalculation because that only looks at it in terms of whether militarily we could pop we could toss him out. What does this do to the russian economy and the credibility of the russian government . We are in a Global Economy. Russia will have fewer partners and fewer people to work with them their economy will get worse and the credibility of the government will get worse. As ive mentioned, Vladimir Putin has to mistake issues and people are not happy with the way he is running that government in russia. Host our guest will be with us until the top of the hour we have phone lines set aside for military personnel. Guest is the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services committee. Guest we are less present militarily but i dont think that is the russian calculation. Russia is not calculating whether or not they can successfully invade western europe. That was the cold war mentality. The reason we have 600,000 troops there was the fear that the soviet union would expand out of Eastern Europe and invade western europe and we wanted a sufficient deterrent to stop them from doing that. There is no reason to believe that now. Russias interest in the ukraine and our interest in the ukraine and not be on that. Our forethought reflected the threat and we could have had 600,000 troops in western europe. I dont think that would have changed his calculation. I dont believe he would have felt we wouldve sent the man. Go back to the 1950s when Vladimir Putin went to czechoslovakia. We were arms to the teeth in western europe at that point. We did not respond to the soviet invasion of czechoslovakia because of the strategic calculation, not because of how many troops we had there. Host when the president called russia Regional Power, not a superpower, what was the reaction by Vladimir Putin . Guest his biggest trouble is he has to much pride. He is using it in the wrong direction. Russia wants to be thought of as a global power and a Global Player and theyre going about it all the wrong way. If you want to be a global layer, grow yourself economically and have a more credible government. This is instructive about the ukraine. The reason that Vladimir Putin was concerned about ukraine is he saw the ukraine drifting towards the western orbit and he thought this weakens russia. Said of ukraine dependent on russia, they will drift for the west. In fact, that is what russia needs to do. I need a better economic relationship with western europe and a better economic relationship with the u. S. If theyre going to grow in power and influence, they need to engage in economically. Look at countries like china and brazil and india now. Morehave not gotten powerful by isolating themselves further from the west. They have gotten more powerful by engaging in the Global Economy and growing themselves. Is going about it the exact opposite way so im sure hes offended via any things rush is a great power but you are not a great power if you isolate yourself from all the other great powers in the world. What will the u. S. Military look like and these are projections courtesy of the defense department. That. Its worse than those numbers you just cited the army is going from 590 down to 440 and the guard is going from 350 down to the 335 number. That is a stone the next round of sequestration, not happening. On the books right now, the law of the land is eight more years of sequestration starting in fiscal year 2016 which would trillion in over 1 further cuts from the military. I dont think people fully understand the implications of that. To navy rightnow builds virginia class submarines per year and to combat ships and maintain 11 aircraft carriers and we will to destroy as per year. In sequestration, you will not be able to do any of that. The army will have to shrink down to 420000 and you will have to make even further cuts beyond which will jeopardize our National Security, i believe. Im not one to say that the Defense Budget cannot cut. We doubled the size of the defense was it over the course of 10 years and certainly we can ramp that back at a reasonable level. We can also spend the money better. We are familiar with the acquisitions that have wound up costing far more than we had expected. We can improve on that. It reaches a point where you are jeopardizing the fundamental mission. The second thing is, the things you mentioned that they will do like adding rid of the a10 and a variety of other decisions the army has a big decision to reduce its aviation fleet to save money if we do those things, you have a manageable military but there is political opposition to every one of those steps. If we do not do those things, what the military at up having to cut his readiness. Training and equipment so that the troops we have are not trained properly and her crib and is not maintained and they are not actually ready to fight the fights we are supposed to prepare for. That is the hollow army you keep hearing about and that is the worst possible outcome. The budget is the budget. Congress is not prepared to expand its you better be prepared to listen to the military about what they need to cut to make sure whatever size force they have it is ready and trained and equipped and equipment is maintained so they can fight whatever fight we send them out to do. Host cnbc as this graphic comparing what the u. S. Is spending on the military to the 10 other leading countries in. These are 2012 numbers. This is what defense secretary chuck hagel said about a month ago [video clip] goals forieve our overhead reductions without cutting unnecessary and costly infrastructure. For that reason, dod will ask congress for another round of a surreal and enclosures in 2017. Congress hasthat not agreed to back requests in the last two years. If Congress Continues to block these requests, even as they slice the overall budget, we will have to consider every tool at our disposal to further reduce infrastructure. Host guest first of all, the secretary is right we need a brack. If we are going to shrink the size of the force particularly in the army and marine corps, we are estimated to have 25 too much infrastructure. That is a waste of money and hollow also leading to a force. If you spend money on base infrastructure, you dont need you are not spending it on readiness so i agree that we need a new brqack round. As far as the 10 countries you named, im not sure how saudi arabia made the list, they picked whatever 10 they picked we have Different National security obligations in any of those countries great if we want to ram down our Defense Budget, we need to rethink what our National Security responsibilities are. Since world war ii, we have been the guarantors of security for south korea and japan. North korea is poised to cross the border. They are incredibly unpredictable in terms of what they will do. Stoppedary thing that them from invading south korea is the fact that they know we are there as a backup and we can stop them. We were very concerned after world war ii about a militarized japan which was part of the get japan not to rearm itself. We would be there as the guarantors of their security. And we are. That is expensive. It also comes the benefits. There has been a great deal of stability in asia in the last 30 or 40 years in part because we are there to deter bad actors like north korea from blowing things up and causing rawer wars. We will stop doing that. If we do that, what are the implications . Whole series of potential conflicts in that region largely over territory as they are looking to find Natural Resources in theseas around there. Odds with each other over who controls a particular piece of territory. As the guarantors of that security, i believe we have enough of it. We have benefited. What would happen if we were not . Would there be a war in the middle east that would blow up and destroy the Global Economy . Threat frome the terrorists and therefore we have residence in the middle east and presence in africa and south asia which is designed to contain that terrorist threat. As a country, we are threatened in a way that none of those other countries on that list are. Thats why we have the budget. That does not mean that our budget can be reduced substantially. It will be less than 600 billion dollars next year so it is coming down. It does not mean our budget cannot be smaller and we cannot still meet those needs but they are smaller and there is a 10 per year cut for eight years and what does that do to our readiness . Also the Industrial Base point our ability to build aircraft carriers and build destroyers and build jet fighters and tanks is an enormous lay important piece of our National Security strategy. Them forp building five years, do we lose the capability . It has happened in great britain. These are things that we in the United States have to consider that saudi arabia and brazil and all these other countries dont. If we want to totally restructure that, i guess we can have that conversation the lets not kid ourselves about the implications. Host now in his ninth term in the u. S. House of representatives, our guest is adam smith, a graduate of university of washington. He is formally a member of the house intelligence committee. He is now the ranking democrat on Armed Services. Ron is joining us from woodbridge, virginia on our line for military personnel. Caller good morning. Whileed in congress for a and im a conservative and i dont agree with a couple of your social policies. That you are the smartest most well spoken member of the Armed Services committee. I appreciate your service. I have two questions when it comes to sequestration, when you look at that cut, is it really that bad . What they callt for, what can we ever cut when you talk about budgets and general . My second question is academic. We talk a lot about being a guarantor of security in different regions. In europe, would you agree or disagree that perhaps we may be somewhat responsible for the debt crisis and different Economic Issues what we have guaranteed their security for the last 50 or 60 years. They have not had to make hard choices between security and the exorbitant social programs that a lot of us admire that we think we want to transplant to the United States. How do you think our security spending relative to the decisionmaking process of European Partners and nato play into their decisionmaking . Of thathe second part question is you are touching a whole lot of issues europe has a different loss of the about social spending. Im not sure that philosophy would have been different had they had to spend money on defense. That has to do with their values and how they want to set up their Health Care System and the child care system and Everything Else they do. Im not sure that if we were not there that that would have significantly changed that particular outcome. It might have, maybe if they had to spend more money on defense that might have gone in a different direction. I think its an interesting question. As for the first part of the question, yes, sequestration is that that. We can without question cut from the defense department. I hope that because we are forced to cut that we will actually start to make better decisions. Theres a famous quotation from Winston Churchill who said we are out of money, now we have to think. I totally agree with that. The amount of money we have laser wasted last 10 years in the pentagon, we can find that savings but i have looked at the numbers are a closely and if you do the eight years of sequestration that are contemplated, you are going to ,ignificantly shrink our navy the readiness of our military forces. It is to my mind going too far. I say that as a person who is not opposed to reducing what we were thinking we were going to spend on the Defense Budget. I think we can do that and i believe sequestration goes too far. Host this is from one of our viewers im not the mire with who might be interested in having the a10s and i doubt we would want to give them away, we would probably sell them. Its a worthy idea to consider. Host we will go to tennessee, republican line. Caller good morning. We have a large military for defending americans on the outside but it is also important to defend them on the inside. Congress is supposed to defend americans. On 9 11, there is obvious evidence it was brought down by obvious demolition. Host we have had a number of callers on this. Guest i disagree with the assessment and i have seen the evidence and that is completely and totally wrong about what happened on 9 11. Host from st. Paul, minnesota, good morning. Caller good morning, congressman smith. I want to point out how the Republican Congress is part of and helpinger Vladimir Putin make the decision to take the crimea and put forces along certain borders. The sequester hit on the military and we had congressmanperry saying that obama was not a good leader. Which i totally disagree. I think he is a good leader but he is going up against obstruction from the republican us towhich is causing look very weak to the world and to Vladimir Putin. All, i have of heard mostly republicans but some democrats coming up with convoluted arguments about what the republicans are the democrats did and thats why Vladimir Putin acted. He acted for his own reasons and it had nothing to do with the size of our Defense Budget or whether we projected which is restraint. He took the actions he did because of his own domestic political situation and our Defense Budget could have been 1 trillion and he still wouldve taken those actions in the ukraine. I think it is a mistake to dive into partisan politics on this. This is a sad statement on stu how far we have sunk. Inre is a lot of countries the world and many leaders in the world to take actions without thinking once about the United States of america. Vladimir putin has his own domestic reasons for doing what he was doing in crimea and why he was making those decisions. As far as the sequester, i agree with you it does upset me when i hear republicans in the Armed Services committee complain about president obama cutting the Defense Budget when all he did was present a Defense Budget that marked to the number the Republican House on the Democratic Senate passed. That was the number we set. Sequestration only happened because back in 2011, republicans refused to raise the debt ceiling. They, in essence, hell their Credit Rating hostage and the only way out of it was sequester and sequester included defense. I would vote right now to turn off sequester. Our deficit has come down by even more than was required by sequester for a variety of different reasons. I think sequester is harming not just our military but is harming us domestically. Its harming transportation, infrastructure, a research and development and education, the basic things that will make us strong at home. I think is a terrible law and i did not vote for it and i think we should get rid of it. I certainly think it was the republicans desire to cut government at any cost that had more to do with sequester happening than anything else. Host your Winston Churchill quote is getting a lot of attention. Let me go to the larger issue of what the president is talking about with regards to nato and europe in a speech yesterday. Here is more from the president yesterday. [video clip] to be honest, if we define our interests narrowly, if we applied a coldhearted calculus, we might decide to look the other way. Our economy is not deeply integrated with ukraine. Our people and our homeland face no direct threat from the invasion of crimea. Threatenedders and by russias annexation. But that kind of casual indifference would ignore the lessons written in the cemeteries of this continent. Allow the old way of doing things to regain a foothold in this young century. That message would be heard not just in europe but in asia and the americas, in africa and the middle east. Guest i think he is actually right. That is the point in all of this. Whatever the specific u. S. Interests in the ukraine or crimea are, we cannot allow an International Country to annex a portion of another country because they are more powerful. That leads to exactly the type of behavior that leads to world wars. I think the History Lesson is clear. We have to try as best we can to say the International Norms and not that one country to size that we are stronger and we are taking you. We will make you part of our country. I think we have to try to make sure there are consequences. I dont have any illusions about this. How can we punish Vladimir Putin in a way that will discourage this behavior . Im not saying its easy or there is a simple step to get us where we want to be. But i think we have to try to make the statement that this is not acceptable. Host Lindsay Graham sent out this tweet guest thats a pathetic statement. Absolute partisanship at its worth. I would love to have seen what 2008 when russia invaded georgia. They basically annexed to promises when we had a Defense Budget that was 2 billion. Did he think george bush was a weak and ineffective leader . We dont need that type of partisanship. I know he has a primary but that type of partisanship undermines our National Security. Vladimir putin did not decide to going to georgia because he thought george w. Bush was weak and he did not decide to go with ukraine because he thought president obamas will was week. He went in there because of his own domestic Political Considerations and because of his calculation in both cases that no matter how strong the west was, we were not going to go to war over either one of those places and hes right and we shouldnt. This has nothing to do with the weakness or strength of a president. Taking Something Like this and using it as an advantage is nakedly partisan and undermines this country. Host this point is Available Online at mother jones. Com. Guest i completely agree. Obama hast president been saying. This is a sign of vladimirs weakness, not of his strength and what could be a fatal miscalculation for him. He is still in a cold war mentality. He still thinks there is a zero sum game. If the west a strong, by definition and his mind, in his rush is weak and thats not true. What russia shouldve done from the getgo is found ways to get along better with the west and build and grow their economy. It is the economic weakness and the correction of his government that makes them weak, not his ability or inability to annex a portion of another country. Smith ofgressman adam washington state, bob is on the phone from virginia, good morning. Caller you are the best moderator on the whole tv network of anybody. Host thank you. Smith, representative Vladimir Putin is really mad because they removed the economy he had in the ukraine. Their plan was to bleed the ukraine completely dry. Can we trust the new government in ukraine to go with our support and not turn on us . Putin will tryr to cut off the ukraines ability to ship in and out of that country. Guest i think thats a little bit of a misconception. I dont think russia views ukraine with that level of us to live. They dont view ukraine as an enemy. They view ukraine as a satellite. They believe that ukraine should be part of russia. Vladimir putin believes they should be dependent upon russia and dependent on the eastern orbit. What set him off is when the ukraine looked like they were going to trade with the eu and were moving toward the west. I think thats a ridiculous miscalculation and it does not we can rush at all. Russia at all. Russia wants to control ukraine. I believe it comes back to his basic belief that he wants russia to be perceived as a great power and he is still in a cold war mindset of what it means to be a great power. Whateveryou can grab country you want whenever you want. That is not the modern definition. If your economy collapses from within because of your foreign adventure, something i wouldve thought that somebody in the former soviet union would have learned because thats a big part of what brought the soviet union down the first place, he wants to control the ukraine because he thinks controlling them makes russia look stronger when, in fact, it really makes him look weaker with these type of tactics to control the country. Host the president referred to russia as a Regional Power and asked about ukraine being part of russia. He said not immediately. Do you see longterm that ukraine could be a nato member . Guest i think we can go in that direction. We did that with a lot of countries in the former soviet union and the former eastern bloc countries. This is a mistake that russia made from the beginning. They saw that as a threat. They were still thinking of nato as the organization that was created to block the soviet union. Soviet union collapsed. That was not the purpose of nato. Formurpose of nato was to a security pact so that those countries could be protected from a wide variety of threats. Done,y, when it was being we did not perceive russia as being one of those threats. We are far more concerned about iran or north korea or some other countries might do. Andia should have hugged it said we want protection, too. The great power mentality made Vladimir Putin conceive it as a threat and a lot of his actions in georgia and ukraine have elsewhere have grown out of that mistake in thinking. Host nato was formed in april of 1949 and now has 28 member nations. Bob is joining us from jacksonville, florida, good morning. Caller good morning, gentlemen. Whatever happened to the rule that you dont attack the president while he is on foreign soil. The republicans to this constantly. While the president was making a speech, the republicans trashed him. Two politicians said everything was obamas fault. I think youre right, i think it is shameful. We went through this whole benghazi nightmare, a horrible incident, i drew an interesting contrast with 1983 when we had two suicide bombings in beirut. One was at the embassy and one was at the Marine Barracks costing i think over 300 u. S. Lives. Democrats are in control of congress with a republican president and we looked into it but there was none of the partisan vitriol over how all this happened because of the president. We as a nation came together and said we need to figure out how this happened and yes, mistakes were made, but we are not going to use this as an opportunity to be nakedly partisan. When you look at the way the republicans have responded to benghazi mlb Ukraine Ukraine is absurd. 2008, the same thing happened when george w. Bush was president. I think that partisanship is really sad. Host a quick followup i did notonfess that commit to memory what he said. Host he said russia is our greatest geopolitical threat. Guest no, he was not right at all. Al qaeda is our greatest local threat. Host the pentagon says guest i feel very strongly about that. We absolutely should have investigated. For americans in the u. S. Ambassador were killed and mistakes are made unquestionably. By definition, we should have looked at it and learn from it. This notion that this was some spectacular failure and the conspiracy theories put together when we all know that the risks inherent when you are in the foreign service. This is not the first ambassador who has been killed serving us overseas and certainly is not the first diplomat. These are dangerous places and ambassadors every day make decisions and drive their security teams crazy. You want to go places and be out in their country and security keep saying no and there is that constant tension. We shouldve learned from it but to listen to the rhetoric of the republicans about how this is the greatest catastrophe in the country andhe solely because of obama weakness, again, points out how makebelieve partisan they are and it gets in the way of us coming together in a bipartisan way and country making smart nal security decisions about how to deal with what is an incredibly challenging world. Host the chair of the committee has told you and others that that is the role of congress. Guest those are two different things. There was no problem with doing oversight. We have done some hearings on it. It reaches a point. One, the relentless investigations and the over and over again of asking the same questions that have been answered, is an incredible waste. The second thing, when you look at what they have done since benghazi, can anyone legitimately say that they were simply trying to investigate and exercise their oversight role and find answers to help prevent this in the future or were they trying to embarrass the administration and show it was their fault and make it a partisan point. There is no question the way they conducted an investigation was partisan from the get go. I would ask you to prepare this investigation compare this investigation was what was done in 1983 with a democratic commerce and president reagan and you can see the difference. Partisan, yes, witchhunt, no and this was a partisan witchhunt. Congressman adam smith, a democrat from washington state, thank you for being with us. Host we will take you live to the floor of the house. Cspanverage is on oncspan two. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers room, washington, d. C. , march 27, 2014. I hereby appoint the honorable rob woodall to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, john a. Boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy